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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 1267084" data-attributes="member: 6294">Kull's 9th Report - Part 3As it would emerge, these precautions were not required.  The tower was empty of any intelligent opposition, though one room did contain a dozen animated hands.  These swarmed to attack, but were weak and easily dispatched.Though there were no priests in the tower, there was plenty of evidence to prove that something was amiss in the village.  One room contained a scroll of death knell, an effective and useful spell, but not one that would be employed by a Priest of Pelor.  The content and materials of many of the other writings that I found made it clear these so-called Pelorites did not even worship a true deity, but were instead supplicants to mere demons.Returning from the tower to the ground floor, I resolved to next investigate the door under the stairs.  However, as I led the way across the main hall of the chapel, the huge window bowed inwards and then shattered, a golem of stained glass stepping forth from the broken remains.The druid, the wizard, and the dwarf Ulfgar all responded in the same way: they hurled spells at the creature.  Not a single one had an effect.  Fools, all of them.  If you wish a window broken, what do you do?  You strike it, with every ounce of your strength.The creature shattered beneath my blows, even as Gnorric began another spell.  He did not even complete this incantation, for five glowing missiles sprang from the doorway to strike him, cast forth by one of the so-called priests.  The foe then turned and ran, as the remains of his magical guardian were ground beneath my boots.Given the location of this encounter, there was nowhere for the priest to run but the door to which I had already been going.  This opened onto a flight of stairs, leading down into catacombs beneath the church.  At first, these caverns seemed as deserted as the tower above.  Some of the passages were unstable, while others were dead ends.  We did have an encounter with some kind of animated web, but Dargrim and I had no trouble destroying it. Eventually, however, the tunnels began to lead deeper, the walls and the air growing ever more moist as they did so.  We came at last to a narrow fissure, just wide enough to squeeze through, one at a time.  I went through first, leaving Dargrim at the mouth of the gap, where he could come through to assist me, and also keep the others from doing anything foolish.It was as well I did: as soon as I reached the far end of the crevice, three ogre zombies lurched out the darkness, swinging their heavy fists.  I called on Hextor's aid to send one of them quailing back in fear, but the blows of the others threw me back against the wall, and cracked the breastplate of my armour.I have heard that some warriors hold their honour more dearly than their life.  This is foolishness: there is no honour but victory.  I retreated immediately, yelling for Dargrim to bar the way from the others.  As well I did: hearing the moans of the zombies, the druid had been ready to charge through.  I do not pretend that I would mourn him, but had he come, he would have died without purpose, and a good leader does not waste his troops.Upon my return, I insisted that we prepare before we tried to enter the room again.  The others would have charged in one at a time, and been slain in the same way.  The fissure was a natural choke-point: a perfect defensive position, such as Myloth had at the Battle of Ferren Bridge.  But I also knew that Myloth lost at Ferren, when General Queeg stampeded his horses in front of his army, giving his men the cover they needed to achieve a foothold on the far bank.I decided to adopt this same strategy now, summoning forth a giant insect as a sacrificial pawn.  The druid also summoned some kind of rock sprite, as further cover, and we sent those creatures through first, with Dargrim and I on their very heels.The plan worked with great success: the druid's creature was destroyed almost instantly, but the zombies had no chance to strike either myself or Dargrim as we emerged.  Both hammering one of the beasts, we drove it back, opening a space for the others to join us.  From there, it became a battle of five against three, and the result was as sure as would have been a battle of three against one.  In less than a minute, all three zombies were destroyed.</blockquote>

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